Green Party news round-up

The Irish Times is reporting that the Irish Green Party has forced the governing party, Fianna Fáil, to hold a vote on ending the hunting of male deer, or stags. The article says that the Green Party forced a vote on the issue by negotiating it with Fianna Fáil during talks aimed at preventing a government collapse. Apparently now some Fianna Fáil members of the Teachta Dála, the lower chamber of the Irish Parliament, want to be free to vote to retain the stag hunt; in essence saying that they want to ignore the terms their leaders committed to earlier.

Meanwhile, in Canada, the Prime Minister has suspended parliament for two months, and The Star is quoting Green Party leader Elizabeth May saying

“We need to kick and scream at this insult to democracy – because that is what it is. We need to support each other, efforts by other parties, non-political leadership,”

This move by the Harper government will kill a committee probing the transfer of Afghan prisoners by Canadian troops. The closing of parliament also shuts down vocal opposition to his conservative government policies as news viewers would not see MPs attacking the Harper administration and it’s policies.

The Huddersfield Daily Examiner is reporting that Andrew Cooper, Kirklees’ Green Party leader, is raising objections to the government staff standing in the way of expanding the use of solar panels in that community. Cooper is quotes saying

“I think it’s non-sensical, if we are really interested in conservation in its wider sense we should look at the possibility of putting solar panels on all roofs.”

New York Green Party stalwart Howie Hawkins has an article at Op Ed News titled “2010: Third Party Time for Progressives and Independents?

If anyone doubts where Hawkins stands vis-avis the Democrats, this should clear up the waters:

We shouldn’t be surprised. History shows that for more than a century the Democrats’ role in the two-party system of corporate rule has been to co-opt, absorb, weaken, and defeat movements for progressive change,

His call for a Green New Deal ends this way:

The Green Party has been organizing toward an independent progressive alternative for years. The Greens have won hundreds of local elections throughout the country in recent years, almost a third of those they enter. Their percentage of votes in state and national legislative elections has steadily climbed, often to double digits. These results indicate the potential. But it will not be realized until a critical mass of progressive organizers and activist break with the Democrats.

Finally, in a press release posted to Wire Service Canada, the Barrie Federal Green Party Association announced that former CBC journalist Ralph Benmergui will deliver the keynote speech at the Annual General Meeting. The Annual General Meeting is scheduled for Sunday, January 10, at 2:00 PM. The meeting will take place in the Angus Ross Room, Barrie Public Library, 60 Worsley St., Barrie.

Green Party Watch News Network

A network of Green activists reporting on Green Party candidates, chapters, committees and issues using Green Party Watch, social networks, radio and TV to carry news of the Green Party before the American people